[Ads-l] Berkeley and gender neutral words

[Barretts Mail]

I just think it’s silly and careless to call a woman a flagman. It has nothing to do with protecting anyone. It’s just common sense and being respectful. BB

> On 19 Jul 2019, at 22:01, Mark Mandel <markamandel at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
> *(Warning: Chinese quotation marks are used here to bracket a particularly
> long and involved noun phrase.)*
> 
> I disagree with Jonathan's scornful dismissal of the issue. ISTM that the
> great majority of *「*the objectors to the use of female nouns for cases
> where the referent's gender is irrelevant to the function*」* are motivated
> at least as much by personal feeling as by a desire to protect other people
> from the evil influence of «*"-man" words, which are dangerously,
> irremediably sexist and malign.»* And he and I, as men, are unqualified to
> judge the emotional and social effect these words may have on women.
> 
> Mark Mandel
> 
> On Fri, Jul 19, 2019, 9:16 PM Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
>> "Goddess" is somehow doing well.
>> 
>> The neutrality craze is based in part on the elementary fallacy that a
>> word's meaning is dictated by its etymology.  Another significant basis is
>> the a priori belief that speakers of English are as sensitive to nuance as
>> are a subset of people with Ph.Ds and must, in any case, be protected from
>> "-man" words, which are dangerously, irremediably sexist and malign.
>> 
>> JL
>> 

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